An Exploration of Social Networking Sites and Eating Disorders
Research type
Research Study
Full title
What are the experiences of parents in relation to their child using computer-mediated communication [CMC] through social networking sites [SNS] whilst being treated for an eating disorder?
IRAS ID
155464
Contact name
Charlotte Scull
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Research summary
Incidents of eating disorders diagnosed in the UK have significantly increased between 2000 and 2009 with this being the most common new onset mental health disorder in adolescent girls following depression. These life-threatening disorders are associated with an overall elevated mortality and morbidity rate for patients.
Much literature addresses how 'mass media' can lead to negative views of body image and supports the socio-cultural perspective that it encourages a slender ideal that elicits body dissatisfaction. Mass media refers to a variety of technologies; which construct an ideal of how one ought to look.
Television and magazines no longer stand alone in the promotion of slender beauty, but rather with the digital world and cyberspace growth, many more households are exposed to this via online media. Growing numbers of young people having access to the world-wide-web, over half of adolescents who access the Internet engage in computer-mediated communication [CMC] through social networking sites [SNS].
It is unknown as to how helpful or unhelpful SNS’s can be in relation to general mental health, but particularly in relation to eating disorders. There are arguments that pro-recovery sites and pro-anorexia sites can either be supportive or harmful in that they increase negative eating behaviours. There is also little known about the parental experience in managing this whilst being involved in their child's treatment.
With an emphasis on working with parents in treating a young person with an eating disorder, this study is interested in seeking to understand the parental experience of having a child who engages in CMC through SNS whilst being treated for an eating disorder.
This study will add further clinical knowledge; which is hoped to influence future therapeutic work.
REC name
London - London Bridge Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/1614
Date of REC Opinion
5 Nov 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion